Apple Board of Directors
Topic Summary
With the Apple Watch’s ever-expanding health monitoring functionalities, the Health App’s being pre-installed on iPhones, and the company’s collaborations with clinics and in biomedical research, the potential of Apple’s rise in the healthcare industry presents promising opportunities yet crucial, unforeseeable risks and threats, from patient data privacy to AI-based misinformation or misdiagnosis patterns. Through a futuristic-leaning lens, this committee would focus on Apple’s rise to dominance in the healthcare sphere and the possibilities and complications that arise from a technology company’s approach to medical care. This committee will be situated in and influenced by interactions between the Board of Directors and other critical stakeholders, consumers, and government agencies, among other entities.
While responding to tangible and acute crises in committee, delegates will explore key bioethical and regulatory dilemmas that are omnipresent and highly pertinent in our modern world as well as cutting-edge topics in biotechnology from gene editing to organoid intelligence. Integrating novel and unique elements into the committee structure, I hope delegates will find themselves thinking creatively and resourcefully on their feet and engaging with these fascinating ideas from new perspectives throughout the weekend.
Dear Delegates,
My name is Sophia Lichterfeld, and I am thrilled and honored to serve as your director for the Apple Board of Directors committee in HMUN 2026! I am excited to get to know all of you in preparation for and throughout the conference and for the intriguing topics we will explore in committee. I am originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, and, at Harvard, I study Applied Mathematics with a focus in Economics and a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy.
I participated in Model UN throughout high school, and, although I never had the opportunity to attend HMUN as a delegate, I was incredibly eager to continue my Model UN journey once arriving on campus. Last year, I served as an assistant director in Specialized Agencies for HMUN 2025 as well as for the ECOFIN General Assembly committee at HNMUN 2025, Harvard’s collegiate Model UN conference, while also joining Harvard’s Intercollegiate Model UN team. Over the summer, I also really enjoyed directing the ECOFIN General Assembly committee at HMUN China 2025. I am looking forward to sharing this excitement for Model UN with all of you over the weekend.
Beyond MUN, I write for the Harvard Political Review as an editor for the Science and Technology Section, I am part of the Institute of Politics’ Policy Program, and I play the violin in chamber groups for Harvard MIHNUET (Music in Hospitals and Nursing Homes Using Entertainment as Therapy). I also enjoy trying out new cafes, going on runs along the Charles river, and playing card games with friends.
The frontiers of biotechnology have always evoked a sense of cautious optimism in me, especially with the advent of AI, gene editing, and synthetic biology innovations. Rising advances such as brain-computer interfaces, organoid intelligence, and human enhancement technologies have the potential to revolutionize the world as we know it and catalyze drastic transformations in the ways we interact with our environments and each other on a daily basis. I am really looking forward to integrating these gripping and thought-provoking topics in the unique format of a specialized agency committee. Understanding the influence of large multinational corporations on international diplomacy as well as how they are affected by trade relations, various regulatory frameworks, and economic structures will be central to this committee. It will be interesting to see how these distinct factors play into each other and how you innovate in your individual roles on the Board of Directors in your understanding of Apple’s sway and negotiation abilities over the course of the weekend.
I am ecstatic for you to share and debate your ideas for this committee, and please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions around the structure or topic of the committee. I wish you all the best in your preparation, and see you in February!
Sincerely,
Sophia Lichterfeld
Director, Apple Board of Directors
applebod@harvardmun.org
Harvard Model United Nations 2026